Conventional gaming apparatuses (including lottery apparatuses) and gaming systems offer a variety of bonus game features and large jackpot payouts. Most gaming system bonus wins fall into two basic categories. A first category is the large progressive jackpot. The large progressive jackpot occurs at a random time so the player has no idea of when the jackpot will hit.
A second category of gaming system bonus wins is a bonus game in which the player is aware of an approaching bonus game. Here, all players have some type of indication that a bonus is coming and only one player will win the bonus amount. The second category or type of bonus was designed to encourage players to play more as the expected bonus game plays. The problem with this type of bonus is that some players sit around and wait for the bonus game to hit and them jump in and try to win the bonus. Casino operators, or any other facilities having gaming apparatuses, do not like this because the unaware tourist leaves a loser and the savvy local player takes the winnings. Additionally, conventional gaming apparatuses require players to play and win an underlying first game before the bonus game is even offered to the player. Thus it is very difficult to ever reach a bonus game.